Re-Entering Computing through Emerging Technology

Recruitment, retention, and graduation of women in the computing disciplines are critical needs in our nation. Research suggests that women drop out of academic programs and leave the workforce to care for their immediate or extended families, to address financial setbacks, to meet personal obligations, and to respond to active-duty calls [1]. Hence, returning women remain one of the largest untapped talent pools in the nation to fulfill the growing demand of computing jobs [2]. Returning women rarely choose to pursue computing education or cannot get into the computing profession for various reasons [3–6]. These include the following: (1) the field of computing is constantly evolving; (2) academic computing degree programs have a rigid structure and require specific backgrounds; (3) technical skills development can be time consuming and challenging; (4) there are not enough transitional programs that can leverage the existing background of returning women to develop new knowledge, and (5) the computing industry and academic programs have few and limited re-entry pathways to prepare returning women for the real-world job market. This special issue presents original research results that evaluate educational interventions and new pathways that have positively impacted women’s re-entry into computing education and careers and that appeal to a broad audience interested in exploring, designing, and developing re-entry initiatives related to computing education.